Inflation is taking its toll on beer fans attending the Oktoberfest celebrations in Munich this year according to one of Europe’s leading banks, as the price of beer in Germany soars.

According to analysis from a team at Berenberg, who provided the chart below showing the soaring cost of beer at the Munich Oktoberfest compared with other consumer and food inflation measures, revelers will now $14.67 for a stein of their favorite brew.

“Costs keep rising for 1-Liter mug of this beer,” said Holger Schmieding, chief economist, who led the team that authored the report…“Do not even try to compare the price per liter to the cheap beer cans available at the discount retailers nearby. The difference might make some crave a stiffer drink to drown the financial pain.”

Citing data from German beer price statistics dating back to 1991, Berenberg’s economists found that the price of an Oktoberfest beer has grown at an annual average rate of 3.9%, well above the annual rise in inflation and the 1.8% rise in beer pricing sold by retailers.

Germany is continuing to feel the economic impact from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and soaring energy and food prices, which drove inflation to a postwar high of 7.9% in 2022 according to MarketWatch. And that in turn has impacted this year’s festbier.

Held every year from mid or late September to the first weekend in October, Munich’s Oktoberfest is now in full swing and it remains the largest beer celebration of its kind in the world.

It began as a royal wedding celebration in October of 1810, when Crown Prince Ludwig hooked up with Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, and they invited the whole town to a meadow outside the city to celebrate the marriage.

And celebrate they did. For five days citizens ate drank and made merry. In fact this party was such a hit that they decided to do it next year and the Oktoberfest tradition was born.

Drawing more than 6 million people annually, today’s Oktoberfest, which runs from Sept 16 to October 3 this year, is 16-18 day celebration of Bavarian culture. And although it features all kinds of events (and a full-fledged amusement park), people come to party with an emphasis on drinking beer…

And drink beer they do…

Visitors consumed almost 2 million gallons of beer in 2019, and in spite of Germany’s soaring beer prices, they’re poised to break that record this year.

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